Rebranding: What would the devil do?

Rebranding: What would the devil do?

Imagine that you are a PR agency with the world’s worst client – one that is inherently evil. Now, take this a step further:you are charged with putting a new, fresh and friendly “face” on this client, i.e. helping to change and improve its brand?

I thought about this as I checked out the newly formatted Sunday New York Times Week in Review section (now called, simply NY Times Review), which this week featured NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me quiz. It asked and answered the following question:

2. According to leaked documents, a prominent international organization wants to rebrand itself with a new name. Who is it?

2. (D) Al Qaeda. In documents captured from his Pakistani compound, Osama bin Laden complained about his terrorist organization’s image, and suggested changing its name to Taifat al-Tawhed Wal-Jihad, which roughly translates to “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Terrorism.”

Okay, I know they are probably very skilled at the dirty deeds that they do, but honestly this is not very good, is it? It doesn’t even make sense, as it has a double negative; one would think they want people to believe that their vile acts are not terrorism.

People, you need an agency – don’t try this at home! (Well, not that we would be willing to take them on).